What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[CatInTheHenHouse]

That sounds like a great idea. I tried the toilet paper roll pots a few years ago but did not have much success with them. They were too small for what I wanted. But I have always liked the idea of reusing paper rolls if it worked. It would be nice to start out with a pot big enough that I do not have to up-pot everything.

I'm not quite sure how you link two toilet paper rolls together and make a larger paper pot. Could you post some pictures for those of us with limited imaginations? Thanks.

Also, if you use the paper roll pots, do you put any type of drainage holes in them, on the bottom and/or sides? Another problem I had with using paper pots was that the cardboard got soaked and stayed wet, causing mold to grow. It could have been completely my fault by overwatering them, but I lost a lot of my starts to mold problems.

Sure! Start with your toilet paper rolls. (Measuring tape included for size comparison, in case there’s a meaningful difference in roll size between brands, regions, etc.):

Next, cut the rolls top to bottom like so:

On one side, cut about an inch from the top and make the cut about an inch deep (Sharpie mark added for visibility). Note that if you’re combining more than two rolls this may need to be adjusted:

Cut again under the first cut to make your notch (I did these at an angle, but full disclosure I haven’t experimented much yet):

Repeat for the second (and possibly third) roll. The cuts should be on the same side for each roll:

Now slip the notch from tube #1 under the uncut side of tube #2, leaving the non-notch pieces over the uncut side so they pinch together:

Repeat to lock the notch of tube #2 into the uncut side of the next tube. If you’re just using the two tubes, this would be tube #1 and you should now have them in a ring. If you’re using more than one tube, this would be tube #3, and repeat until you’ve linked your last tube into tube #1.

(From left to right: three tubes combined, two tubes combined, and a standard tube for comparison.)

Then put cuts in the bottom of the combined roll to form the bottom of the pot:

Fold them in and you’ve got your pot:

I used about an inch long cut to form the bottom of the two-roll pot. A three-tube roll needed the bottom cuts to be about half the length of the roll to cover the bottom and honestly I suspect for anything bigger you’re going to want paper towel rolls to make these instead of toilet paper, or else instead of cardboard pots you’re going to have cardboard pans.

Re: mold I have had mold every year (this will be year three) as I just keep them in Dollar Store cake pans but as of this writing no dampening off, so I think it was a different kind of mold. I took the humidity dome off early and tried a little hydrogen peroxide to slow it down until everything went outside. Something I have considered, but don’t really have a way to test would be to purposely inoculate the rolls with a seedling-friendly fungus, so it would outcompete the plant-killing fungi before the latter could establish. But even if it worked I acknowledge that it’s still kind of gross and wouldn’t help if you had, say…mold allergies. Sorry I can’t help more there.

 

[gtaus]

Start with your toilet paper rolls....

Very nice tutorial and excellent pictures. Thank you.

Re: mold I have had mold every year (this will be year three) as I just keep them in Dollar Store cake pans but as of this writing no dampening off, so I think it was a different kind of mold.

Yeah, that's the problem I had with my paper roll pots. They got really moldy, and I ended up throwing most of them out. They were pretty gross. I don't know what kind of mold it was, but it looked bad and slimy.

 

[gtaus]

Square Paper Pots for Seedlings

Speaking of different ways to start seeds, I just watched an interesting YouTube video tonight on how to make square pots out of paper. If you want to reuse some old newspaper, paper grocery bags, etc... to make paper pots, then this video will show you how to do it. As a bonus, he goes into the money saving aspect of making square paper pots and his concerns about long term sustainability. Those are the things we discuss in this thread, so I'm going to post the link for your consideration...

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Square Paper Pots for Seedlings

Speaking of different ways to start seeds, I just watched an interesting YouTube video tonight on how to make square pots out of paper. If you want to reuse some old newspaper, paper grocery bags, etc... to make paper pots, then this video will show you how to do it. As a bonus, he goes into the money saving aspect of making square paper pots and his concerns about long term sustainability. Those are the things we discuss in this thread, so I'm going to post the link for your consideration...

I just dug some packing paper out of the recycle to try this over the weekend; I don’t think I had enough toilet paper rolls for seedlings this year anyway.

 

[gtaus]

Deceptive Clearance Pricing at Home Depot?!

I like buying clearance items at Home Depot. Sometimes I get some really good deals. But I have noticed that they are trying to trick you into thinking that you are getting a much better deal than you actually are.

Case in point, a couple weeks ago I picked up a Ryobi 18v 300 psi pressure washer on Clearance for only $20.00. On the price sticker, they stated the former price had been $100.00. So, you would think that you are getting $80.00 off the previous retail price, correct?

I'm at that age where reading really small print is not so easy. So, I put on my readers and looked at the price tag more closely. What it actually said, in the smallest of print, was something like "a year ago sold for" and then in big print $100.00.

That clued me into the game, so I looked up that product online and currently it is selling for $50.00. Instead of saving $80.00, you are really only saving $30.00. Yes, a year ago it did sell for $100.00, but I think it's not quite fair to list the markdown price for a year ago at its highest retail price when currently on the shelf it now costs $50.00.

It was worth $20.00 to me, so I bought one. But I knew I was saving $30.00 (60% off) and not saving $80.00 (80% off) of the current retail price. I wonder if other companies are engaging in that type of deceptive clearance pricing scheme? I bet lots of people get tricked into thinking they just saved $80.00 on that clearance item when in reality, they still saved, but much less.

 

[BDutch]

I wonder if other companies are engaging in that type of deceptive clearance pricing scheme? I bet lots of people get tricked into thinking they just saved $80.00 on that clearance item when in reality, they still saved, but much less.

This is quite extreme, but yes, the resellers do this price trick all the time. They sell the product normally for say 50, then a few weeks for the discount price raise it to 60 and in the action week the sell it for 40 with : from 60 for 40. It’s legal as long as the labeled previous price was accurate.

Especially on Black Friday they seem to break the rules of being honest according to a consumers organisation.

 

[gtaus]

This is quite extreme, but yes, the resellers do this price trick all the time. They sell the product normally for say 50, then a few weeks for the discount price raise it to 60 and in the action week the sell it for 40 with : from 60 for 40. It’s legal as long as the labeled previous price was accurate.

I don't like being tricked. When I place an order on Amazon, sometimes I get a pop up that shows me the price history of that item. I don't know if Amazon is tracking that item or if it's a third party app that I installed somewhere along the way. I installed the Honey app a while back and that sometimes shows me cheaper options before I checkout.

I like that Honey feature, but it's been months and months since it found me a less expensive purchase option. Having said that, I do not buy a lot of goods online, so maybe I just don't give the Honey program enough chances to help me.

In the case of the Home Depot clearance price, they compared it to the full retail price of a year ago, not what you could buy it for online today. That's even worse than raising the price a few weeks before Black Friday and then lowering it a bit to claim huge savings during the sales period.

 

[Sally PB]

Another trick: "Save 67% of the sale price!"

Example:
Original price is $100
Sale price is $60
You're saving 40% of the original price
But $40 is 2/3 (67%) of $60, and it sounds like a better deal.

I much prefer when people just say something like: "This is some stock that has been here awhile, and we want to move it out so we can get the new stuff in."

 

[BDutch]

I don’t pay much attention to the price or discount they advertise with. It triggers me to take a look though. Just look at the price and decide if that’s okay.

Bought 2 bottles with 500 ml handwash/handsoap for €1,- each. Love the scent (cedar & lemon). I just wouldn’t have bought it for the older/original price (€4,- ). But this price made it really attractive to buy them.

 

[gtaus]

I much prefer when people just say something like: "This is some stock that has been here awhile, and we want to move it out so we can get the new stuff in."

Yeah, I don't mind buying last year's tools when I know this year's model is not much of an improvement, sometimes only the model number changes.


Frankly, I'm still using tools that I purchased 30+ years ago. Some of them are just as good as tools I would buy today. In fact, some of my hand tools were better made 30 years ago. The cordless tools have really improved over the years, but mostly in terms of better batteries. I am still using some of the tools in my first Ryobi 18v Ni-Cad set I purchased ~20 years ago, just with new Li-Ion batteries.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was not seeing any great end of year clearance sales on stuff I would buy. Although that is still mostly true, I did pick up a few good clearance items since then.

I guess I'm that customer willing to help them move out their old stock if I can get a deep discount!